No escape
(Ying outside Starbucks: Bali, Indonesia)
Since it was raining all day here in Glasgow and the potholes are full of water, spraying up at every pedestrian crossing, I decided to revisit Bali here. It’s alright, I’ve compromised with a familiar setting; Starbucks. Correct, even in Bali, the franchise is inescapable, though at least it is marginally more discreet than in Europe*. It remains as tacky as ever with an attempt to blend in with the surroundings, but in essence, it is just a western coffee shop in what many consider paradise. We turned a corner from a quaintly Balinese restaurant and were met with the gong atop a short flight of steps. Ying tends to jest with me that wherever a Starbucks is in the world, Caucasians will flock there. Not so I – I detest Starbucks; the expensive and less than outstanding coffee, the lack of imagination with which the interior is decorated and most importantly the smugness of the overcomplicated and ridiculously diverse drinks menu. I find myself pleading, “please, could you just give me a coffee?” after a bombardment of questions regarding sitting in or out, the size, style, how many shots, which flavour syrup, cream, milk, sugar, etc. Anyway, continued vilification is best left for another time.
I didn’t hang around the entrance long enough to attract attention, or to be wrongfully associated with the dreaded coffee house. In disbelief, I convinced Ying to pose and to bang the gong with the umbrella. This is the first of two hotel umbrellas that we misplaced in Bali – one in each hotel. We tracked the second one down but this one probably still resides at Mr Arsana’s massage house, despite our efforts to explain to the staff the following day where we discarded it.
* Fun fact: The only country in Europe (as far as I am aware) where there are no Starbucks? Italy.
– Today Rosie is drawing, nursing suspected ‘laptop wrist’ and going to a talk on German comics in Glasgow, Scotland –
